REACH Debate Enters Final Stage

This week sees what looks like the opening of the final chapter of the long-debated chemicals regulation program REACH—regulation, evaluation, and authorization of chemicals—in the European Parliament.

Late last year, the Parliament and the Council of Ministers voted to accept REACH, but there were differences in what each body accepted. Those discrepancies led to a round of intense negotiations between the two bodies this spring and summer in the lead-up to what is termed a "second reading" of the bill.

The Parliament's Environment Committee will debate the second reading recommendations for REACH this week. Next week, it will vote on the measure, and on Nov. 14, the full Parliament is expected to vote on the program.

The Competitiveness Council, within the Council of Ministers, is expected to vote on REACH in early December. Assuming the council gives its approval, REACH—which has been one of the most contentious programs ever developed by the European Union—will go into effect. It will replace the variety of national regulatory programs facing chemical manufacturers throughout Europe with one unified regimen and, over the next 11 years, will require full testing of most chemicals introduced before 1981, when stringent safety screening was introduced.

Because REACH will also regulate chemicals and substances being imported into the region, it will affect manufacturers in other areas, such as the U.S. and Japan. Chemical industry representatives from those regions have been highly active, with mixed results, in lobbying against REACH. And there has been some suggestion that once the program is enacted, there will be complaints against REACH filed with the World Trade Organization.